My main point about “If the community doesn’t ask for something, it proves there is no need for disruptive change” is more along the lines of complaints.

Starbucks customers are complaining about high prices rather than something which needs immediate attention. This is a good thing. However, you are right in that Starbucks still needs to realize that even if customers aren’t suggesting disruptive change, that disruptive change shouldn’t be explored for future opportunity. My point is that Starbucks’ current offering is adequate. However, by sticking with that offering, growth will stagnate and therefore for future growth opportunities, they need to explore disruptive changes.

I really like your Wii analogy. It has attracted a whole new demographic of gamers (definitely not hardcore). It could be argued that the whole Starbucks concept was a disruptive change for the coffee industry in North America. Before Starbucks, many people were happy with instant coffee in the morning, or cheaper coffee and donut shop alternatives like Tim Hortons. Premium coffee and espressos are a disruptive change to the industry in North America.

I think you are right that the next disruptive change likely won’t come exclusively from My Starbucks Idea, and that the best innovation will use a combination of the “wisdom of crowds” and the “expert”.

I agree completely with two of your points (little ideas are valueable & the value of the community may outweigh the value of the actual ideas).

I partially agree with the value of “introducing concepts to the community”. I think it’s valueable, but may be misleading depending on what you are trying to accomplish. If you are looking to attract “new” customers, but only ask existing customers you may miss out on insight. Had Nintendo asked hardcore gamers what they wanted, I wonder if they would have suggested the Wii (which has a slower processor and lower-res graphics)?

Unless I misunderstand your final point, I respectfully disagree with the logic around “If community doesn’t ask for something therefore PROVES no need for disruptive change.” I am pretty sure it wasn’t the Apple community that asked Apple to create the IPod.

To quote Steve Jobs, quoting Henry Ford… ‘So you can’t go out and ask people, you know, what the next big [thing.] There’s a great quote by Henry Ford, right? He said, ‘If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me “A faster horse.”

http://rexsthoughtspot.blogspot.com/2008/03/lessons-on-innovation-collaboration.html

Don’t get me wrong. The My Starbucks Idea is a good start. They can go even further with this though.

Great blog post! I think you raise a lot of great points about the limitations of My Starbucks Idea.

You are right in that the most popular ideas don’t really offer any disruptive changes, but I still think the little ideas have value.

A lot of suggestions are for different food items, or certain recycling tips. While these alone are useful, I think Starbucks could also PROPOSE their own ideas for community discussion. Starbucks now has a mechanism for testing new food and drinks or community initiatives without paying for costly market research.

I feel the greatest value of My Starbucks Idea isn’t from ideas that customers propose (though they are useful), but the community surrounding those ideas. Imagine the positive word-of-mouth marketing resulting from a person who’s idea was “under review” by Starbucks. The fact that you can now follow the implementation team on Twitter only increases the two way communication.

Finally, if the majority of ideas (complaints) are about high prices, or wanting more free stuff, Starbucks is doing things right. There isn’t a need for disruptive change, and the fact that the community isn’t suggesting any helps prove that.

Here is my blog post that delves into how they could improve.

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/32633

Albert: Thanks for the heads up. With the Starbucks quarterly earnings coming out this week, the Australian closures may be the first of many more to come around the world.

Anali: Thank you for sharing this with the Wikinomics community. I am not only very impressed that Starbucks is the first global partner of V2V, but also that Starbucks has such dedicated employees that patrol the blogosphere, promote the company, and get involved in initiatives such as V2V. I suppose this is why Starbucks in #7 on the Fortune 100 list.

I’m interested to see how this new community volunteer initiative will work. Starbucks has been blamed in the past for Wal-Mart syndrome as it displaced neighborhood coffee shops. It looks like Starbucks will try to recreate the community feel of a coffee shop, but on a global level. Very cool.

In a tribute to the discerning taste buds of Australians Starbucks has just announced that it is “to close 61 of its 84 stores across Australia by Sunday, shedding 685 jobs in an effort to shore up its international business.”

That the product looked mostly like strained dishwater did not go to well with Australians who like their coffee mad from fresh beans properly roasted and ground, made with care and served properly.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/29/2318072.htm?section=justin (URL may change)

Thanks for the comment. You are certainly right about the cool things Starbucks is doing with the music industry.

Starbucks’ partnership with Apple is also very promising. You can now buy Starbucks-like music on the iTunes store. In addition, the iTunes Music Store will automatically detect the current and last 10 songs playing in a Starbucks and offer users connected to the store’s wireless network the opportunity to download the tracks.

I think this is another step towards making Starbucks “the third place” where people hang out and relax in between home and work.